Like Cats and... Wolves? The Werepigeon Apocalypse [FREE and COMPLETED]

Chapter 29

Kate was absolutely paralyzed as she watched Zoe fall. No. Not again! She could not possibly survive watching another member of her family die. Not the same way as Em. Not Zoe, for f**k’s sake! She barely even registered a black streak leaping off the building and enveloping the girl. They stumbled into some bushes below. Too far below.

They must have survived the fall, Kate heard a heartbreaking animal squealing from the place where Adira landed. And, to her immense relief, Fatim’s enhanced hearing also caught Zoe’s quiet whimpers.

One of the birds that fought against Ralo dove down, flying straight to Zoe and Nick while the others quickly disappeared into the dark night. Awesome. Very f*****g useful.

“They were just as useless as we were.” Fatim was in shock, barely controlling her emotions anymore as they rushed down the stairs. “Not even Adira had a chance against that thing.”

“They’re alive!” An old naked woman screamed at them as they emerged from the building. Zoe was kneeling next to Nick’s body, tears rolling down her face. She was covered in cuts and bruises and cradled one of her arms to her chest but otherwise looked unharmed. Nick, however…

Kate shifted, not needing Fatim’s extremely accurate sight to see the bones sticking out of his body and dozens of open bleeding wounds. Not to mention a huge hole in his stomach where that bastard plunged his tail into Adira. Kate didn’t even feel his pain anymore, hopefully just because he was unconscious. Still, how could anyone survive something like this?

A cold hand touched her shoulder and Kate swiftly turned around, hissing at the woman who took a step back and raised her hands. “He’s a wolf, he can heal through this. If we keep him alive.”

How the f**k were they supposed to keep him alive? Kate panicked, having absolutely no idea what to do. Why the hell was she so useless? Her mate was dying in front of her and she just stood there, watching the life leave his body, instead of doing something to help him. All she wanted to do was cry and wail and feel Nick’s arms around her again.

“Pull your s**t together, Catherine!” Fatim hissed at her. “Now he is the one who needs you, so stop being a selfish b***h and use your brain. You had plans for everything. What was the plan for someone getting seriously injured?”

Right. Fatim’s brutal honesty helped Kate focus. They never expected Nick would be the one to get hurt, Adira just seemed invulnerable, especially considering they were fighting against some f*****g birds. But there was a last resort plan in case one of the cats got harmed like this.

Silver Falls didn’t have a hospital but there was a place where they could hopefully patch Nick up enough so he would survive until his accelerated werewolf healing powers had a chance to start fixing his body. “Right, uh, we need a car.”

“Already on it,” the woman nodded and pointed to the headlights coming towards them.

Kate crouched next to Zoe, carefully wrapping her arms around the trembling girl. “I-I’m so sorry,” Zoe sniffled, “it-it’s all my f-fault.”

“Of course it’s not your fault, sweetie. Nick is a tough guy, he is going to live.” He had to. “We just need to bring him somewhere they can help him.” The car stopped next to them and Kate saw it was a pickup truck just like the one they used to get there. Perfect. A naked young man jumped out of it, nervously eyeing Kate. She noticed he still had a red rubber band around his ankle, just like the old woman, who was no doubt Nick’s friend Julia. It was the sign they agreed on to recognize which birds were supposed to be friendly and which were enemies. The guy was probably worried that Kate would attack them but, truth be told, she was grateful they were there.

“I’ll gather the rest of the cats and send the injured your way. You take care of Nick,” Grams’ voice sounded in Kate’s head and she nodded, both mentally and physically.

“Zoe, get into the car, please,” she commanded the girl. It would probably be safer to leave her with Grams and the other cats but Kate wasn’t willing to stay far away from her right now. She helped Zoe climb to the front of the truck and turned to the birds. “And you two, can you help me with him?” Nick’s lifeless body barely weighed anything and they tried to be as careful as possible to not cause him any more injuries. Good thing he was unconscious, the pain from the shattered bones must have been excruciating, amplified by the truck’s wobbling on the bumpy roads.

The house they arrived at was quiet, no lights on anywhere in sight. It stood alone, surrounded by a huge garden, the closest neighbors were hundreds of yards away and probably asleep anyway. Kate didn’t even wait for the truck to stop, swiftly shifting and climbing up onto the first floor. It wasn’t hard to locate her target, there was only one person in the entire building, loudly snoring in one of the bedrooms upstairs. Fortunately, one of the windows was opened, she didn’t have time to break some stupid locks. A sound of glass shattering from downstairs told her that Julia and her friend didn’t bother with unlocking the doors either.

The man didn’t wake up, his poor human hearing probably didn’t even register the noise. Plus, he was rather old, which didn’t exactly add to the sharpness of his senses. He did wake up when Kate shifted back into her human form and jumped on his bed, grabbing his neck, letting Fatim’s claws out just enough so he would feel them on his skin but they wouldn’t hurt him.

His sleepy eyes widened in fear when he realized the naked woman on his bed that was strangling him was not some weird dream. He opened his mouth, probably to scream or beg or whatever humans did when they were being attacked but Kate had neither time nor patience for that. “Are you doctor Anders?” she asked him, the tone of her voice letting him know it was a very serious question. The man nodded, his eyes nearly bulging out of the sockets. “Good. Get up, I need your help.”

She got off of him and he reluctantly slid from beneath the blanket, nervously readjusting his T-shirt and boxers. Good thing he wasn’t used to sleeping bare, there were already way too many naked people around. “Come on.” Anders hesitated upon noticing she was not holding any kind of weapon, probably thinking whether he could overpower her. As if she needed a weapon.

Kate pushed him into the hallway and flipped the light switch on, needing him to see her properly. “Don’t get any stupid ideas,” she hissed, letting her eyes flash bright yellow and her teeth and nails get longer and sharper. “I won’t hurt you if I won’t have to.” She placed her palm on his chest and slid down, tearing long holes into his shirt but being extra careful not to break his skin. He stared at her in absolute confusion and horror, blinking rapidly as if he was trying to wake up from a nightmare. Kate knew that feeling very well.

When he tried to speak, she shushed him and nudged him towards the staircase, making him walk downstairs. The doors to his practice were kicked open and there was blood smudged all over the floor. Anders gasped upon seeing Nick’s body laid out on a huge metal examining table, and Kate wasn’t far from doing the same. The merciless light of the fluorescent tubes on the ceiling made Nick’s injuries look even worse. “Help him,” she growled and pushed the doctor inside the room.

“I-I… I can’t, you-you have to take him to a hospital!” he stuttered, turning to her, shaking his head softly.

Kate grabbed the front of his tattered T-shirt. “We can’t take him to a f*****g hospital. Just keep him alive, he’ll heal fast.”

“I-I’m sorry, lady,” he started carefully, clearly not wanting to antagonize her further, “it’s not that I don’t want to help you, but I don’t know that much about human physiology. That man has internal injuries, among other things, he needs surgery and blood and I don’t even know what else. I’m a veterinarian!”

Of course Kate knew that. But she wasn’t lying, there was no way she could just bring Nick into a hospital, that would have been impossible to cover up. One man like Anders could be blackmailed to keep his mouth shut, even silenced permanently if the situation called for it. An entire staff of an emergency ward in a hospital? Impossible. Not to mention that Nick would die before they could get him there.

Shit. He couldn’t treat Nick but perhaps he could treat Adira? But that wouldn’t work with them being unconscious. “Adrenaline. Do you have some?” That’s what they always used in TV shows to wake people up, right? The doctor nodded hesitantly and reached into one of the cabinets, pulling out a glass vial and a syringe.

“Are you sure? He is not in any pain right now,” Julia asked her quietly.

“Yea, he’s also dying right now,” Kate hissed angrily, Anders’ frightened yelp letting her know she didn’t look one hundred percent human anymore yet again. “I think he would prefer being in pain and staying alive to dying peacefully.” She grabbed the syringe Anders was holding and pushed the liquid into Nick’s body. A silent moan escaped his mouth after a few moments and Kate leaned in to gently kiss his lips, tasting his own blood. “Please, stay with me,” she whispered. “Adira, I need you. I know it hurts but I need you to shift. Please, you’ll both die if you don’t do it.” Her cheeks felt wet but she couldn’t afford to start crying.

Nick groaned. “Zoe?” he breathed out and Kate sniffled upon hearing his voice, no matter how strained and full of pain.

“She’ll be fine, you were amazing. Please, Nick, you have to shift and stay awake. Can you do that for me?” There was a quiet moan and he looked away but his body shimmered and started to change. “Thank you,” Kate leaned towards his ear, “I love you.” He probably couldn’t hear her. And even if he did, he wasn’t going to remember it.

“HOLY MOTHER OF GOD!” Anders screamed out, staring at the table. “THAT’S A MOTHERFUCKING WOLF!!”

Fatim rolled her eyes. “Great, good thing we have invited an expert on animals.”

“Yes, it’s a wolf. You can treat a wolf, right?” Kate snarled into his face.

The doctor’s mouth opened and closed a couple of times without any sound coming out. “I… uhh… wh-uhh… Where’s the man?”

“Inside.”

“Like… in the stomach?!” Anders' hands flew up to his mouth, covering it, no doubt to stop himself from screaming again.

She could hardly blame him, finding out about the whole supernatural world was hard, especially in such a brutal manner, but Kate was seriously losing her patience. “In his head, you i***t! He’s a werewolf, not the f*****g Little Red Riding Hood! Now, can you treat the f*****g wolf or should I kill you and find someone else?” There was no one else.

“Treat the f*****g wolf, sure,” Anders scratched his head, trying to control his emotions, “sure, I can treat the f*****g wolf. I, uh… I have dog blood, that should work,” he mumbled to himself, pacing the room and pulling things out of cabinets and drawers. “You,” he pointed at Julia’s friend, “there is a portable X-ray machine over there, wheel it in. A werewolf, right. Why not? Stitches, hmm, where are the… Werewolves. f*****g hell. I need a drink. Are you a werewolf too?” he turned to Kate with an incredulous look.

There was no point in lying to him. “No. A cat. You’re not going to have some sort of a mental breakdown, are you?”

“Oh no,” the man chuckled nervously, “I have werewolves here every other day.” He pulled on a pair of gloves and a white coat. “Chihuahuas, hamsters, parrots. And werewolves. A lot of cats, too,” he smirked and leaned over Adira’s body, freezing when he heard her squeal in pain and one of her eyes turned to look at him. “I… uhh… I’m kind of used to my patients not being able to bite my head off while I operate on them…?”

Kate knelt next to the table to get her head on the same level as Adira’s. “Hey girl,” she stroked the blood-soaked fur on the wolf’s neck. “That guy is doctor Anders, he’ll patch you up so you can heal, okay? Please, try not to kill him.” Adira slowly blinked. Whether it meant she understood Kate’s words or she was just slipping away again, she seemed calm enough not to start attacking everyone who dared to touch her. “We can’t sedate her,” Kate frowned at the doctor, “the body will just revert back to the human form if we do.”

“Right, of course, that makes total sense.” Anders sounded on the brink of losing it but he nodded and pulled out another syringe. “Just local anesthetics then. Sure, why not? Operating on a huge wolf who could tear me to shreds at any time, like it’s just another normal day. A werewolf actually! Hmm. Yes.” He kept blabbering as his shaking hand reached toward Adira’s body. He was holding the injection above the wound in her side, nervously glancing at her head. “I’m not exactly sure on a proper dose for a wolf. But you’re not really a wolf, right, so… I guess you are about as big as a pony?”

Adira rolled her upper lip back and snorted, making Anders chuckle. “Oh, is that funny? Great. I’m so glad a f*****g werewolf finds me amusing.” He injected her with the local anesthetics, causing her to close her eyes for a moment, letting out a deep breath that sounded almost like a relieved sigh.

As Anders made some scans, Julia slipped outside to watch Zoe. Kate knew she should be the one to comfort the girl but couldn’t leave Nick’s side. And even though the old woman was a bird, the thing Kate hated more than anything in her life, Julia had proven to be a trustworthy ally. The doctor worked on the puncture wound in Adira’s side first, trying to stop the bleeding and stitch up the biggest lacerations.

Kate shivered upon seeing the X-ray scans of her body. Even someone as stupid as her knew that there were supposed to be long white sticks and not just a bunch of random shards that weren’t connected to each other.

Anders hooked Adira up to some beeping machines and bags of blood and something that looked like water. The whole scene looked surprisingly similar to something you would see in a TV show about an ER ward, minus the sexy doctors and nurses. Kate hasn’t actually visited a real hospital before and had no idea how these things worked in reality. Despite being frightened and in what looked like a mild shock, the doctor acted absolutely competently. He kept talking to himself the whole time, probably trying to deal with the whole situation somehow without going insane.

When he started to straighten and realign Adira’s bones and the wolf squealed in pain again, Kate had to step outside for a moment. What she saw there didn’t exactly add to her peace of mind either. “What in Bastet’s name are you doing?!” Julia was holding Zoe’s head and the other pigeon was waving huge pliers in front of the girl’s face.

Upon hearing Kate’s voice, the man jumped aside, raising the pliers in front of him to defend himself. “It’s alright, Kate,” Zoe had to clear her throat before speaking, “they were helping me out of that ugly thing.” The girl’s finger pointed to the electrum collar that was lying on the ground, cut in half.

“I grabbed you some clothes upstairs,” Julia approached Kate cautiously. “How’s Nick?”

Anders was a big man and his shirt felt like a tent wrapped around her body but it was better than walking around naked. Kate reached for Zoe and pulled her into a careful hug, noticing how the girl winced and brought her elbow closer to her chest. “He’s…” Kate hesitated, not sure what to say not to scare Zoe even more. “The doctor is still working on him. He’s strong, he will be just fine.” She didn’t allow herself to think about any other options. “Let’s get you inside, Zoe, and the doctor will look at your arm, alright?”

“No,” she shook her head vigorously, “Nick first.”

The poor child looked like she was barely holding back the tears and Kate had to resist the urge to hug her tighter, knowing it would only cause Zoe pain. “Of course. But you are hurt as well, so when the doctor has a moment, after he has taken care of Nick, he will look at you. Just like at aunts Melanie and Liz when they get here.” Aside from the two cats that died on the roof, there were no other life-threatening injuries but Mel had an ugly cut on her side and one of the other scouts, Liz, had some unfortunate encounter with the dogs.

Zoe reluctantly followed Kate inside and sat down in the waiting room, browsing through cat food brochures. Kate returned to Nick, pausing in the doorway upon seeing him unconscious, reverted back into his human form again. “Crap,” she mumbled. Dealing with all the pain while trying to heal the worst wounds and keeping control over the body was probably too much for Adira and she slipped away again.

“It’s fine,” Anders sighed, pulling the X-ray machine closer again, “let him rest. I checked and, surprisingly, all the stitches are holding fine and all of his insides seem to be in the right place. Despite the fact that he was a wolf just minutes ago. This is one weird dream. Is that my shirt?”

Kate rubbed her forehead. If only all this was just a bad dream. “Yea, sorry, I think Julia raided your closet. We’ll pay for all this.” Money was not the problem.

“Nah, keep it. It looks better on you than on me,” he chuckled. “Wow, damn, now I look like some sleazy old guy hitting on you, right? Sorry. Not that I didn’t enjoy you being naked but-ugh. I’ll just shut up. I need coffee. With vodka. Lots of vodka. I need to scan him again, since, well, the wolf images are useless now that he’s not a wolf anymore.”

Kate only had a vague idea that these things shouldn’t be used on people too often. Wasn’t there something with radiation? But with the were healing, Nick should be fine. It’s not like he was going to live long enough to get cancer or anything. “Keep your s**t together, Catherine!” Fatim hissed at her. “You can be a pitiful wreck later, right now Nick and Zoe need someone competent who will take care of them.” Of course, the cat was right, now was not the time for bursting into tears.

Looking at the images from the machine, Anders was shaking his head, rubbing the bald spot on his scalp. “You said he was injured just an hour ago? Then how the hell are those bones already starting to grow back together?”

“I told you he’d heal fast, we just need to make sure he has the chance to do that.” Still, even for a werewolf, Nick’s healing rate was impressive. “Can you still help him, even when he’s human now?”

“Umm… yes, I think, the bones are not as complicated as internal organs.” Anders didn’t seem to be able to tear his eyes off the screen. “This is amazing! But also a huge problem.”

Kate let out a sigh. “It’s growing together in the wrong way, isn't it?” Most weres would encounter this problem sooner or later. The increased healing didn’t really care whether the broken bones were properly aligned, just mended them together somehow. “Just break the bones again if you have to and fix them in the right position.” At least Nick was unconscious. “Could you take a look at my niece as well, please? I think she has a broken arm.”

***

Next update: Monday